Lieutenant-Colonel John Walter Molyneux-Child,
TD (1939 - 2 February 2015) was a
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
officer,
mechanical engineer
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...
, and businessman in electronics. After he became the 33rd lord of the
Manor of Papworth and the 27th lord of the
Manor of Dedswell, both by inheritance, he began to research the history of the
English manorial system, about which he became an expert and wrote a book.
Early life and family
John Walter Molyneux-Child was born in 1939 and educated at
St Hugh's School, a
preparatory school near
Faringdon
Faringdon is a historic market town in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, south-west of Oxford, north-west of Wantage and east-north-east of Swindon. It extends to the River Thames in the north; the highest ground is on the Rid ...
, Oxfordshire, located in
Carswell Manor and then continued his studies at Clifton College, in Bristol. He subsequently studied engineering at university, earning a B.Sc.(Eng).
[Molyneux-Child, J.W. (1987) ''The evolution of the English manorial system''. Lewes: The Book Guild. ] He married and had two sons Patrick and Rory. He later married his second wife Mij.
Career
Molyneux-Child was an officer in the British Army's territorial force. He was appointed 2nd lieutenant in 1959, and eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers".
History
Prior to REME's for ...
. He was awarded the
Territorial Decoration
__NOTOC__
The Territorial Decoration (TD) was a military medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Territorial Army. This award superseded the Volunteer Officer's Decoration when the Te ...
.
He was the chairman of several electronics firms and wrote a book on RFI/EMI shielding materials that was published in 1992 and in a revised edition with a new title of ''EMC shielding materials'' in 1997. Late in life he bought Le Manoir de Tachau, near Duras, in the
Dordogne
Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in PĂ©rigueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named af ...
, France, which he renovated and ran as a holiday business for the British. In 2011, he appeared in the television series ''
Little England'' which profiled the experiences of British holiday-makers and expatriates in France in a lightly humorous way.
Lord of the manor
In 1984, Molyneux-Child became the 33rd lord of the Manor of Papworth and the 27th lord of the Manor of Dedswell, both by inheritance from the trustees of the
6th Earl of Onslow (died 1971), and in succession to the
7th Earl of Onslow (died 2011) who relinquished the titles in that year. Acquiring the manors kindled Molyneux-Child's interest in their history and in the history of the manorial system generally and he began to research the subject and wrote a book of his findings, ''The evolution of the English manorial system'', that was published in 1987.
[ Molyneux-Child exercised his right as lord of the manor to appoint manorial officials such as ale tasters and hangmen which he combined with fund-raising for charity.
]
Death
Molyneux-Child died at home in Ripley, Surrey, on 2 February 2015. He was survived by his wife and sons.Molyneux-Child.
telegraph.co.uk, 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
Selected publications
*''The evolution of the English manorial system''. The Book Guild, Lewes, 1987.
*''RFI/EMI shielding materials: A designer's guide''. Woodhead, 1992.
*''EMC shielding materials''. Newnes, Oxford, 1997.
See also
*
English feudal system
Feudalism as practiced in the Kingdoms of England during the medieval period was a state of human society that organized political and military leadership and force around a stratified formal structure based on land tenure. As a military defense a ...
*
Manorialism
Manorialism, also known as the manor system or manorial system, was the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of Europe, notably France and later England, during the Middle Ages. Its defining features included a large, sometimes forti ...
References
External links
J. W. Molyneux-Child in ''Little England''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molyneux-Child, J
2015 deaths
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers officers
English mechanical engineers
English non-fiction writers
1939 births
Lords of the Manor
20th-century English businesspeople